The TR-626 is one baddass midi controller. that's what makes it a serious contender in the TR legacy, even with the 808/909. I saw an 808 in the classifieds for a good price recently, and I suddenly realized that I don't even want one anymore. If you get a good quality sample set from one of those old vintage machines and then load them into your sampler, the TR-626 will give you the authentic 16 step TR grid sequencer to trigger them, so you get the sound and feel of using one of the big boys. One of the other reviewers on here tipped me off to that little trick, and really makes drum programming a blast. The 626 has 30 drum sounds so you can control 30 samples, and you can assign the midi note number/channel for each one! Plus you get set accent levels for each individual sound, which makes it a lot more expressive than the older TRs. You may think that six levels of velocity isn't a lot, but trust me, that is all you need to program complex, nuanced dance beats. To me it's the perfect drum sequencer, not too complicated, not too primitive. Program your sampler to route velocity to filter cutoff/res and pitchbend, and you are in snare roll heaven. I rarely use the 626's internal sounds, although, they're really not bad for certain applications, plus with the indi outs you can process them all to hell and back. Sometimes I'll throw that old 626 kick in the mix for a little extra grit and punch. Man this box just keeps on kickin out beats! It's my most used piece of gear! Oh, and I didn't even mention the Trigger Out! Probably the main attraction for old school techno heads is this nifty little feature that allows you to use the rimshot as a trigger pulse for arpeggiators/sequencers on old analog synths. So hook this up to your Juno6/Sh101/ProOne and you will be swimming in funky electro basslines! For some old synths this is the cheapest way to sync them to MIDI! I guess in the age of the Machinedrum and Jomox people expect a bit more out of their drum machines these days, but for the $40 I paid, I'm pretty happy with the old TR rhythm composer.

Rating: 5 out of 5
posted Tuesday-Jul-24-2007 at 16:33

Malo
a hobbyist user
from Belgium
writes:

It's indeed a great machine. But an online manual would make my day!

Rating: 4 out of 5
posted Friday-May-06-2005 at 10:18

John
from From Daun Anda
writes:

This is in fact a very good machine, IMO. I think the 12-bit samples of this one sounds better than the 16-bits of my HR-16. The latter is more versatile, though, it has more sounds (49) and they can be tuned more than 1 octave up and down. What I like about the 626 is the clean, punchy, and somewhat warm sound it has. It actually sounds fat and full, no joke. I've made some great latin- and breakbeats on it, and also a punchy discobeat. I run it through my line 6 echo pro and it really comes to life. The sequencer also is good, very intuitive. It has accent (+/- 3), shuffle, and flam. It really is dead easy to use. I agree, 30 sounds isn't much. But then again, the 909 and 808 only has 10. The 626 can be run on batteries also, and it has multiple outs, Midi in/out, and sync. Only the 808 and 909 of the TR-series beats it, thats my honest opinion. And, its a very different machine than those two. In summary, the sounds are great for electrobeat-stuff and the sequencer is good for triggering other Roland oldies or a sampler.

Rating: 5 out of 5
posted Tuesday-May-18-2004 at 07:24

Ricardo Gabriel
a part-time user
from Brazil
writes:

Hmmm... Does this thing have any utility?? An AWE32 can beat it... Well, talking about Michael Jackson, the hi-hat resambles Billie Jean...

Nothing is worst than a Drum machine that have only open and closed hi-hat... What kind of expression can you make out of this??

Rating: 2 out of 5
posted Friday-Aug-01-2003 at 15:36

bobby peru
a professional user
from Venezuela
writes:

i just bought the tr 626 and i think is one of the best machines if you want to compose drums with a electroclash beat. im in need of the owners manual cuz' there are things i know im not doing well, any help. plz.